Buffy sat in her car a block away from her father's house as she tried to gain the courage to go and see him. Her thoughts lingered back to Spike. If he hadn't shown up she wouldn't be here right now, but she was glad that he had. She messed things up with him and because of it he was going back to England and she would probably never see him again. It upset her, but it made her realize something else. Her father was still here, and it was time to fix things with him before he too was gone. She put her car into drive and pulled up to the front of the house she had grown up in. With one final deep breath Buffy turned off the car and opened the door.

She wasn't sure if she should knock or if she should just walk in. After a brief debate in her mind, Buffy decided that knocking would be better, it would give her a little more time to think of what she would say.

"Elizabeth" Hank breathed out when he opened the door to see his daughter standing on his front porch. Before she had time to say anything he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. "I've missed you so much. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I should have listened to you. When William called me and told me that he saw you, that you were doing good, I felt so relieved. I thought that I had pushed you away, pushed you into something that wasn't what you wanted."

"Daddy, it's okay." Buffy said pulling away. "I'm fine. I've been with friends this whole time. I'm sorry I left. I just, I needed a change. I wasn't happy."

"I know, and it was my fault. I shouldn't have pushed you..."

"Even still, I shouldn't have left like that." Buffy cut him off.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's in the past. All that matters now is that you are here, and you are safe." Hank looked over Buffy's shoulder and glanced around the surrounding area.

"Are you looking for something?" Buffy saked noticing her father's searching eyes.

"No, I mean, I just thought that maybe William would have come home with you."

"Why would you think that Sp... I mean William would be coming with me?"

"I guess I figured that since he came back in search of you that the two of you would have spent some time together making up for what has been lost."

Buffy hung her head as her emotions passed through her eyes. For a moment she thought that she was going to cry but she managed to hold the tears back. Hank however noticed.

"Elizabeth, why don't you come inside and we can talk about what has happened." Hank suggested as he lead his daugter into the house.

"So for the past year you have been with Faith and Angel?" Hank asked as he and Buffy sat on the sofa together in the living room. Buffy nodded her head in response. "I'm glad you were with them. I remember that Faith wasn't exactly a good role model for you, but I also remember that you did a lot to change her ways. I don't know why I never thought to look for them and see if they had heard from you. I guess that doesn't really matter now. You said that you work for Angel, how is that going for you?"

"It's good, actually. I mean, I never saw myself detailing cars before, but I like my job. I like the people that I work with, we even all live together."

"Does he pay you well?"

"When you consider everything I guess you could say that he does. The pay itself isn't anything to brag about, but we all have free room and board and Angel provides lunch everyday. Every Saturday he would order out for every one and rent movies. If we ever got in a bind Angel was always there to help us out if he could. We don't have much to worry about."

"It sounds like you were well taken care of." Hank observed as he mentally thanked Angel for taking care of his little girl.

"We all are."

The two were silent for a moment as Hank debated whether or not to ask his next question. Curiosity got the better of him. "How did William find you?"

Buffy sighed at the question. Obviously Spike hadn't told her father very much. "To cut things down to the short version, Angel and Spike are cousins."

"Spike?"

"Sorry, that's his nickname. After so many changes and the things that happened I don't call him by his real name."

"And what happened?"

"It's a long story."

"Is there a short version?"

"Yeah, things didn't go well so he decided to go back to England."

"I'm sorry. I know how upset you were after he left when you were younger."

Buffy shrugged her shoulders as if it didn't matter. "I was, but a lot of time has passed since then."

"That doesn't mean that it doesn't still hurt."

"Maybe." Was Buffy's only reply.

After more catching up with her father, Buffy decided that she wanted to rest for awhile. The events of the past few days had worn her down and she felt that she just needed to take a short nap. She walked into her old bedroom to find that nothing had been changed since the day she left for college. 'I missed this place.' Buffy thought to herself as she crawled into her old bed and closed her eyes.

Living with Faith and Angel was great, but not as great as Sunnydale had been. Her life was here. It was where she had lived most of it. Her family and friends were here and she missed them all terribly. When she had first moved to Los Angeles Buffy had been home sick for the first month or so, but after some more time passed she had adjusted to life there. She had pushed the thoughts of her family and friends out of her mind and until now she hadn't realized just how much she missed being home. Buffy drifted off to sleep as fond memories of life in Sunnydale filled her mind.

"Elizabeth?" Hank's voice came from outside of her room. "Elizabeth, you have a phone call."

Buffy opened her eyes. The sun was beginning to set. "Who is it?" She asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"They asked me not to tell you."

"Wonderful." Buffy mumbled as she picked up the phone on her nightstand. "I have it Daddy. Thank you." She called out to her father before she put the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Buffy" Came back through the phone in two different voices, but she was able to recognize them both.

"Willow? Xander? How did you guys know I was here?" Buffy asked sitting up in her bed, smiling, the sound of her friends voices filling her with joy.

"Your dad called us yesterday." Willow explained. "He said that someone ran into you somewhere and he told your dad that he would get you to call home. I called your dad earlier today to see if he had heard from you yet and he told me that you were here."

"Wills and I thought about just coming over, but Hank said you were sleeping so we waited for awhile and then decided to call and see if you were up." Xander said.

"I wasn't up, but Dad woke me up, so I am now. You guys wanna come over? I would really like to see you." Buffy admitted into the phone.

"Why don't we meet at the Bronze instead?" Willow suggested. "I think your dad said something about dinner being ready. You can meet us there when you are done eating."

"That sounds lilke a plan. I missed the Bronze. The clubs in L.A. are so big and loud, and crowded."

"You were in L.A.!" Willow exclaimed into the phone. "Hey, isn't that where Faith and Angel went after they both finished high school?"

"Yeah. That's who I've been with this past year."

"Oh. Well we can talk about that when we meet up later. You should go have dinner. We'll see you at the Bronze soon."

"I wouldn't miss it." Buffy said. The three wished their goodbyes and Buffy hung up the phone.

After trying not to rush through dinner with her father Buffy ran up to her room and changed so she could meet with her friends at the Bronze.